A Restoration Worth Noting: Notre Dame Lives On

The great cathedrals of Christianity have three enemies: fire, vandals, and iconoclasts. In its 850-year history, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris has been threatened by all three. We have just witnessed a chapter of this history that will be long remembered. 

The building dates back to the twelfth century. It was begun in 1160 under the patronage of Bishop Maurice de Sully, and was mostly complete by 1258 (although one of its most iconic features, the flying buttresses, wasn’t added until the 1300s). In 1258, when the gable and rose window were completed on the south transept, St. Louis IX was king of France, and a Dominican named Thomas Aquinas was in his second year as regent master of Theology at the University of Paris. The magnificent Sainte-Chapelle, built by King Louis IX in six short years to house the Crown of Thorns relic, had been completed in 1248 just one quarter mile west of Notre Dame, on the Île de la Cité. Subsequent kings added to the cathedral, most famously Louis XIV, who added the Pietà at the high altar, in honor of the consecration of France to the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1638 by his father, Louis XIII.

In the late eighteenth century, Notre Dame was desecrated and damaged during the French Revolution. The revolutionaries rebelled against religion as another part of the “oppressive” regime that had to be overthrown, and designated the cathedral as a “Temple of Reason.” But Our Lady of Paris was resilient and outlived the revolutionaries. Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc and Jean Baptiste Lassus restored the cathedral beginning in 1844 and creatively added new elements, including the spire that burned on April 15, 2019.

In the immediate aftermath of the fire, President Emmanuel Macron commendably pledged that it would, it must, be rebuilt as soon as possible. At first that meant to him rebuilding “geste architectural contemporain”: “with a contemporary architectural gesture.” The artistic elites and the architectural establishment were elated.

Five and a half years later, the rebuilding of this masterpiece of Gothic architecture has been instead “reconstruite à l’identique,” identically rebuilt, following the wishes of the common man and scholars of all stripes. The outpouring of love that happened the night of the fire demanded rebuilding it as it was. The people remembered their love for Notre Dame, which may have been taken for granted or dismissed as outdated in secular France. The threat of almost losing their beloved cathedral, and the relief that it was spared, led to a flood of donations from both rich and poor, French and otherwise, who wanted the cathedral to be rebuilt as it was. More than 340,000 donors from 150 countries donated over $928 million, including Americans who, at $62 million, were the largest donors outside of France. As humbling as it was for the architects, modern art curators, and even some in the Church who wished for something edgy and contemporary, it was exhilarating to see the cathedral restored in a way that was respectful, harmonious, and timeless.

The 2,000 workers and craftsmen who worked so hard to rebuild the beloved cathedral under the able direction of state architects Philippe Villeneuve and Rémi Fromont showed the true glory of France.  Philippe Villeneuve did not try to leave a personal mark on the cathedral (except for one small detail: a new design for the rooster on top of the spire, reminiscent of a phoenix, a symbol of the cathedral’s rebirth). It is my sincere hope that Villeneuve is remembered for his humility and becomes a new architectural role model of the master builder, an architect who cares more about the quality, beauty, and durability of the historic masterpiece than for expressing the so-called spirit of the age.

The majestic cathedral, beautiful and whole, is a victory for permanence in architecture. Against the wishes of many elites, architects, and technological experts, the huge wooden trusses of the roof were rebuilt using more than 1,500 old-growth oak trees and the same type of handheld axes and wood joinery used by the medieval craftsmen. The 750-ton spire, or flèche, was rebuilt using the same nineteenth-century methods of wood construction and lead roofing that Viollet-le-Duc oversaw. This was the spire that the moderns wanted to replace with something in glass or steel that would signal France as a beacon of secular progress. 

The new stone vaulting, 108 feet above the floor, repairs the holes in the ceiling and the arches, most noticeably the central quadripartite vault that had to be completely remade. This great vault immediately below the flèche is approximately forty-two feet square and has new six-inch-thick limestone voussoirs that span the crossing on four huge arches and two cross ribs. It is a demonstration of the ability to build vaulted ceilings in masonry once again, which was a French specialty for centuries.

Heavy timber, lead, and stone were the most damaged in the conflagration, but the restoration has encompassed all the arts and crafts, including restoring the organ, the rose windows, the bells, flooring, woodwork, and the colorful wall murals in the ambulatory and side chapels. The interior plaster and stone were thoroughly cleaned for probably the first time since Viollet-le-Duc’s restoration in the mid-1800s. Notre Dame is the epitome of the Gothic cathedral, and most of us hope and expect that employing the high level of Gothic design and traditional craftsmanship that enabled this building to stand for so long will ensure that the church of Our Lady of Paris lasts for another 860 years.

 

We should certainly be grateful for this rebirth of Notre Dame. The fire, occurring at the beginning of Holy Week in 2019, was a kind of Passion for the building and for those who love it. Five years later, we celebrated its reopening at the beginning of Advent, a time of special focus on Mary of Nazareth and remembering the birth of her son, Christ our Savior. The reopening can be an occasion of joy for the whole world as the cathedral will once again become a home for all who seek the miracle of the Nativity.

We should also ask ourselves what can be carried into the future from this great effort of rebuilding. Christians believe that God can bring good out of evil, and in the case of Notre Dame, it is my hope that this act of reconstruction will bring many of the eldest daughters back to Mater Ecclesia, Mother Church. Americans and Catholics worldwide rejoice with the people of Paris at the great sacrifices made to return this masterpiece to its former glory.

What if we seized this opportunity to thank the donors and craftsmen by continuing this great work of love in other places? France has demonstrated that a great nation can rebuild at the same level as the Age of the Cathedrals. Why cannot America and other nations build new buildings at the same level as the Age of the Cathedrals? It is once again time to build in stone, to raise walls high, to vault our ceilings in limestone, to buttress the walls, to construct heavy timber and lead towers to the heavens, and to revive the art of murals, statues, and stained glass.

The French organization of craftsmen and artisans, the Compagnons de Devoir, has assisted the world in rebuilding this icon in only five years. They can help us to build anew in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the New World. Just as many young people in France stepped up to this dangerous yet satisfying work, I see many in the U.S. who also want to work with their hands and produce things of lasting value.  What wonders might we see if the common people were to unite with the captains of industry and demand that architects and engineers use their talents with humility, not to create “contemporary architectural gestures” but profound works of beauty for mankind, for Our Lady, Notre Dame, and for her Son? 

Image by XtravaganT and licensed via Adobe Stock.